


Dream a dream of me

by Thighz



Series: Here be Demons [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Body Horror, Demon AU, Demon Hunters, Dream Sex, Dream worlds, M/M, Memory Alteration, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Old Age, mentioned McHanzo, mentioned genyatta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 08:09:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14052645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thighz/pseuds/Thighz
Summary: Jack knows his own face. He’s not stupid. He’s been looking at this face his entire life so why - why does it look like a stranger?Why does he feel like this isn’t his reflection?





	Dream a dream of me

**Author's Note:**

> So this is apparently becoming a Thing. Stay tuned for more Hunter adventures!
> 
>  
> 
> _Enjoy_

 

 

 

**Dream a little dream of me**

 

 

 

 

Jack jerks into the waking world with a gasp.

He pats furiously at his chest; where he watched a knife plunge to the right of his heart. There is no mark, no blood, no gasping attempt to breath through the iron flooding his mouth. His skin is smooth, with downy hair so blonde it’s almost white. He slumps forward and drops his face into his hands, letting out a slow, agonizing breath.

Just a dream.

He slips out of bed and enters the tiny bathroom. It’s familiar for some reason. The dark green bath rug paired with matching towels and toilet seat cover. Spotless counters gleam and his toothbrush, shaving cream, and deodorant sit beside the faucet. Another set of toiletries sits on the opposite side and he frowns at them.

His heart is still racing from the dream, hairline sticky with sweat. He should take a shower.

Instead, he just turns the water on and rinses his face a few times, grabbing for a hand towel as he stares into the bowl to drip dry.

When he finally looks in the mirror; his stomach jumps.

Jack knows his own face. He’s not stupid. He’s been looking at this face his entire life so why -  _ why _ does it look like a stranger?

Same sunny locks, blue eyes, sharp jawline. He rubs at his chin and debates shaving.

“Are you just now getting up?”

Jack turns his head towards the familiar voice.

Gabe leans against the doorframe, dressed in faded black jeans and a loose led zeppelin t-shirt. He’s staring at Jack’s mostly naked body, dark eyes raking from head to foot and back up in a full sweep. A smirk ticks at the corner of his mouth.

“Where are we?” Jack asks instead of ‘good morning to you too’.

Gabe lifts an eyebrow, “Uh - your parents house? Easter vacation?” He pushes off of the frame and walks to Jack’s side.

He smells like the second brand of deodorant on the sink, “You okay, Jack?”

Jack nods, rubbing at his face again, “Yea. Yea. Dream has me -.” He waves a hand helplessly, “Confused.”

Gabe squints, “What kind of dream? Do we need to call Doctor O’Deorain?” He sets a comforting hand at the base of Jack’s neck, thumb rubbing along his hairline.

“Stabbed.” Jack mimics a knife plunging through his left pec, “Hurt like a bitch.”

Gabe’s hand clenches, “That’s the third one since we got here.”

“It’s not that bad.” Jack laughs nervously, “I have an overactive imagination.”

“About  _ dying _ .” Gabe hisses.

Their conversation is cut short when someone calls out ‘breakfast’ from somewhere else in the house. Gabe’s hand drops away, but only to lace the fingers with Jack’s hand. He squeezes for a second, then let’s go, “Get dressed. Meet me in the kitchen?”

Jack nods and watches him go with a frown.

Gabe doesn’t look different. Gabe looks like he always does. Young and handsome, soft features and shrewd eyes.

Jack takes another look at himself in the mirror.

So why does he feel like this isn’t his reflection?

  
  


\-----

  
  
  


“Question.” Jesse lifts a finger, wearing only boxers and still sweating from his last marathon session with Hanzo. Which he would  _ still _ be having if there hadn’t been a frantic knock at his door at 2am, “Aren’t you supposed to be with Jack at all times?”

Jack’s Reaper looks a hot mess on Hanzo’s front porch. He’s barely formed and in obvious distress as he leaks black goo on the newly stained hardwood.

“I need your help.” Gabe grinds out, eyes ruby and dangerous within the fog of himself.

“Better ask me nicely.” Jesse frowns, dropping his hand.

Gabe sucks his body back into its semi-human shape and scowls, “Jack is missing.”

Jesse curses and plants his hands on his hips, “How long?”

“It’s been six hours.” Gabe replies, “He went to bed without me and when I went upstairs -.”

“Six hours is nothing.” Jesse shakes his head, “Jack could be on a hunt.”

“Jack doesn’t hunt anymore.” Gabe snaps, “He can’t leave that house. Not without me.”

Jesse rubs at his temples, “Goddamnit. Okay.” He makes a half turn, “Hanzo!”

A long suffering sigh comes from the direction of their bedroom and after a few rustled movements, the oni emerges. He doesn’t look any happier than Jesse feels about being interrupted. Jesse mourns the sight of him laid out naked in their bed waiting for Jesse to return.

When Hanzo sees Gabriel, however, he straightens his shirt, “What has happened?”

“Jack’s missing.” Jesse informs.

Hanzo frowns, “How -.”

Gabe runs a hand over his head and grunts out a curse, “Young girl came through a couple of days ago. A hunter. She needed supplies to kill a Djinn.”

“Aw hell.” Jesse slaps his thigh, “I’ll go get dressed.” He shuffles off to the bedroom to grab his usual gear.

Hanzo and Gabe speak in the doorway.

“Do you think he went to help her?” Hanzo asks quietly, arms crossed over his chest.

Gabe squeezes the bridge of his nose, “She couldn’t be older than 20. Of course he went to help her.”

When Jesse returns, dressed and loading peacekeeper, Hanzo has a deep frown marring his pretty face, “Do you think another Reaper took him?”

“No.” Gabe shakes his head, “I’d know.”

“Where do we even start?” Jesse grabs Hanzo’s storm bow and quiver and his Oni catches it with ease.

“It’s a two hour drive from here.” Gabe motions to Hanzo’s house beneath their feet, “I can get there faster, but I can only kill humans at their scheduled time. I don’t govern the supernatural.”

“Which is where I come in.” Jesse holsters his gun, “What are we waitin’ for? Let’s go rescue sleeping beauty.”

“That is a terrible joke.” Hanzo hisses as Gabe twists away in the direction of Jesse’s hidden jeep.

“It’s the truth, darlin’.” Jesse mumbles, “Djinn don’t keep their prey in the wakin’ world.”

  
  
  


\------

  
  
  


Jack runs his hands along the wallpaper of his parents house. It’s almond and scattered with family photographs, a decorative cross here and there. The familiarity of it settles in Jack’s heart like a heavy stone.

It’s nostalgic and wrong.

He knows something is wrong, but everything is in its place so he doesn’t  _ understand _ .

“He was always an early riser in his youth.” A soft laugh, “He’s allowed to be lazy on his vacation, Gabriel.”

“Still.” Gabe snickers in reply.

Jack steps into his family kitchen and a woman turns away from the sink to face him.

Heartache spears through him like a poison. His eyes water and his breath hitches and he crosses the expanse of kitchen in four short steps.

“Jack!” His mother’s laughter is vibrant as he snatches her up in a hug. Her arms are covered in warm water and suds and he can see the remains of breakfast dishes in the sink over her shoulder.

“Wish he’d given  _ me _ a hug like that this morning.” Gabe pouts from the bar, fork halfway to his mouth, “You act like you didn’t see her all day yesterday.”

Jack buries his face in her shoulder and inhales the clean smell of her. The dish soap and bacon and laundry detergent.

She just chuckles and pats his back, “Gabe said you had a bad dream?”

Jack nods, but doesn’t say anything. He isn’t sure his voice will come out right.

Eventually he releases her and she pulls a warm plate out of the oven for him.

“Thanks, ma.” He kisses the top of her head and rounds the bar to sit on a stool beside Gabriel.

Gabe elbows him, “You sure you okay?”

Jack nods, “Yea.”

He still doesn’t feel right, but his mothers food is as good as he remembers and Gabe’s arm is warm pressed against his on the counter.

His mom gives them the rundown of Easter lunch, hands moving wildly and ever thankful that it’s a BBQ and she gets to sit back with a martini and not touch a dish. Jack smiles as he eats his eggs and Gabe scoffs about refusing to touch a grill with a ten foot pole. Jack will though. Put Jack and his dad side by side and they could grill for the entire neighborhood and still have enough leftover to last a week.

“Where is dad?” Jack brings his dish to the sink and scoots his mother out of the way so he can wash his own plate.

“Picking up BBQ sauce.” She huffs, wiping her hands on a towel, “I gave him a checklist two days ago and did he forget half of it?”

Jack shakes his head with a smile, “Not a surprise.”

“The memory on that man.” She sighs.

“Old age.” Jack gets a pinch for that one, “Hey! I said dad was old. Not you.”

“Beautiful till the very end.” Gabe puts a hand over his heart.

“Oh both of you are dirty liars.” She sneers, snapping Gabriel’s arm with the towel, “I’m going to make sure the backyard is set up. You two go for a beer run or something.”

“Can snow cones be involved in this trip?” Gabe inquires.

Jack sends him a look, “Are you five?”

“It’s hot.” Gabe shrugs, “I don’t come to Indiana much Jack, but you gotta have snow cones in this weather.”

“We’ll see.” Jack hedges.

“Gee thanks mom.” Gabe sneers.

  
  
  


\------

  
  
  
  


Hana song has made a grave, dangerous mistake.

She clutches at her side, blood oozing from the wound as she stumbles through back alleys and dumpster sites. Her knife is long gone. So is the blood the Preacher gave her.

There is no body to patch her up and she has no idea where her hotel is now.

And Jack -

She falls against a cold wall and hisses, fingers compressing against the injury and trying to stop the flow. Her knees are shaking and her feet ache from how fast she’d run.

Jack’s haunted visage, his frantic shout for her to  **_run_ ** still plays like a broken record behind her eyes.

She squeezes them shut and shouts at the ground.

“You look like you’re in a tight spot.” A man’s voice drawls, thick with accent and shadow towering above her small frame.

She snarls, ready to lash out with whatever energy she has left; but when she looks up, it’s just a man in a cowboy hat.

Two other men stand behind him, one she recognizes from Jack’s house and the other -

“Oni.” She bites out.

“I think you should be a little more worried about that stitch job you got.” Cowboy points at her red-soaked hand.

“Are you Hana?” The Oni asks.

“That’s her.” The familiar one affirms.

Cowboy puts his hands out, one metal and the other flesh, and sets them on her shoulders, “Take a seat, girlie before you keel over.”

“You have to save Jack.” She wheezes out.

“And we’re gonna.” Cowboy assures, “But you’re no use loosing blood and drippin’ all over my carpet.”

She squints, “Your -  _ What _ ?”

He helps her to the ground and she winces as cold water seeps through her pants. But it’s the least of her worries, because the Oni is moving to kneel before her now and holding a makeshift first aid kit. A laugh bubbles out of her, despite the pain, when she spots all the things inside of it.

“A first aid kit for hunters.” Jesse drawls with a toothy grin, “Gonna have to make you one if yer gonna hunt.”

Hana scoffs and allows the Oni to lift her shirt to access the wound, “Not gonna tell me to find another job?”

“Not yer dad, am I?” Cowboy shrugs, “Name’s Jesse, this here is Hanzo and you know Gabe.” He jerks a thumb at the silent figure above them.

She doesn't meet his gaze. No, she didn’t know his name. Jack, yes. Jack, even old and bitter, still has a kind smile for her when she comes seeking Hunting gear. But she’d seen the man lingering in the shadows and watching her every move. Like he was waiting for her to hurt Jack. Like an over protective guard dog.

“Does the Djinn have Jack?” Gabe asks.

Hana nods once and hisses as Hanzo begins to stitch, “He told me to run, the Djinn took my knife - I -.” She swallows, “I lost the lambs blood too.”

“More than one way to kill a Djinn.” Hanzo murmurs, “But you will learn in time.”

“I need to learn now.” She snaps, “This shouldn’t have happened.”

“Placing blame doesn’t find him any faster.” Jesse squeezes her shoulder.

They’re too kind.

“Isn’t Genji’s beaux a Djinn?” Jesse rubs at his beard.

Hanzo nods and wipes away the blood around the stitches, “Yes. The Shambali monks are an order of Djinn who found alternative feeding habits to keep humans safe.”

Gabe snorts, “That’s not possible.”

A smile ticks at the corner of Hanzo’s stoic mouth, “Genji has been with Zenyatta for a very long time.”

“Genji is an Oni.” Jesse shoulders him, “They’ll both live forever.”

“Indeed.” Hanzo agrees.

Hana watches him bandage her and he lets her tug her own shirt down to cover up the patch job.

“Now -.” Jesse rises to his full height and Hanzo helps her to her feet, “That there are four of us and one Djinn -.”

“I can’t interfere.” Gabe say irritably.

“I feel like we should call Genji first.” Jesse sighs, “Get some more background. I’ve never hunted down a Djinn before.”

“Is this a first for all of you?” Gabe hisses.

“Unfortunately.” Hanzo admits as he fishes his phone from the pocket of his pants, “I will call him.”

Hana relaxes against the wall as Hanzo dials and Jesse argues with Gabe.

She just hopes they make it in time.

  
  


\--------

  
  
  


Jack offers to do clean up once the party is over. His father collapses into a lawn chair, beer in hand and looking both pleased and tired. He can see his mother through the kitchen window, directing lingering family members to the plastic wrap and tin foil so they can take any extras home with them.

Gabe is nursing a beer on the middle step of the back porch, watching Jack clean the grill with reverent, half-lidded eyes. He looks more relaxed than Jack has ever seen him. Normally Gabe wanders around the house with a dark cloud over his head -

A  _ dark _ -

Jack slaps a hand over his chest and curls it over the stab wound from his dream.

“Jack?” Gabe’s voice filters in and when Jack looks up, there’s a hand on his forearm and a worried crease on Gabe’s brow.

Jack inhales sharply and the pain in his chest increases, burning through the thin grey shirt he’s wearing. Gabe’s eyes are right there. He’s seen them every day for - how long?  _ How long _ ?

He glances over at his dad, relaxing in the waning sunlight.

But it’s not right. His father wasn’t a soft man. There were scriptures and crosses and ‘I’ll put the fear of God in you boy’. They Hunted from the day Jack’s mom die -

He recoils from Gabe’s grip.

No. That’s not right.

“Jack?” Gabe pulls him away from the grill and out of the backyard. The air conditioning of the house hits Jack’s flushed skin, but it’s not jarring enough. He’s still swimming in memories that don’t belong in this gentle place.

The Gabe in front of him wavers and bleeds oil from his pores.

“No.” Jack puts a hand against his head, “No - that’s not -.”

“Talk to me, Jackie.” Gabe’s hands are gripping tight around his biceps, “Talk to me - Sarah!”

A cool wash rag falls across his forehead and someone eases him to sit on the tile floor of his mother's kitchen. Probably Gabe.

His head is still spinning and he’s seeing -

A girl.

A knife skitters across a cracked concrete floor and it’s covered in blood. Two different types. Hers and -

A blue-skinned arm snatches the knife.

_ GO! Run! _

That’s his voice, cracked and grating and desperate.

_ You’re mine now, preacher. _

“Jack!”

He opens his eyes and Gabe’s face is the first thing he see, concern wide on his face. His mother sits is in the corner of his eye, her hand holding the rag to the back of his head now.

“What -.” He croaks, reaching out and wrapping a hand with Gabe’s.

“Jesus.” Gabe closes his eyes.

The Gabe from his memory and the Gabe in front of him don’t match.

_ Who are you _ ? Jack wants to demand.

He’s not sure he wants to know the answer.

  
  
  


\--------

  
  


The abandoned house the young Hunter leads them to is a literal dump. It’s nothing but rotted wood and crumbling foundation. It reeks of dead plants, mulch, stale rainwater.

Gabe wrinkles his nose, “There isn’t anything left of this place.”

Hana is already limping around the side of the house and waving them to follow. Jesse walks right behind her and Hanzo has already pulled his bow free, head turning to keep watch.

Not required, Gabe is perfectly capable of knowing if they are compromised. They don't need to know that. So he follows like a shadow, listening for any sign of the mythical monster holding his preacher hostage.

He did not spend years keeping Jack’s ass alive only for him to die at the hands of a  _ Djinn _ of all things.

Hana brings them to a small shop in no better shape than the house. At least the walls are still  _ standing _ .

But there’s a scent on the air now: blood.

Hana waves them through the empty space where a door used to be, “There’s a cellar. It’s hiding in there.” She wrinkles her nose, “It’s been here for a while.”

Gabe sees Jesse wince.

“They are everywhere.” Gabe reminds them, “You can’t hunt them all down.” It doesn’t ease the pained expressions on Jesse or Hana’s features and Hanzo just looks stony and reserved.

“So no lambs blood. No silver.” Jesse unholsters peacekeeper, “Only choice we have is to do some severe brain damage.”

Hanzo hums, “Zenyatta said we  _ must _ damage the brain. Beheading will not work.”

“Bash its brains in -.” Jesse walks through the entryway, “Easy enough. Gabe, yer on Jack duty. Hanzo and I will take care of the Djinn. Hana -.” He points a metal finger at her, “You stay out here and make sure it doesn’t escape.”

Gabe is surprised to see her nod. At least she’s not foolish enough to run in with a stitched side, he’ll give her that.

Jesse is quieter than Gabe expects him to be. His boots don’t jingle as they cross the old floor and the cellar door barely creaks as it’s pulled open. Hanzo shares a loaded look with Jesse and the cowboy reaches out with one hand, cupping Hanzo’s cheek.

The Oni slips down into the darkness without a word. Jesse follows.

Gabe slips into the abyss of black and bleeds into his non-corporeal form. He senses Jesse and Hanzo’s heat as he glides through the pitch black passage.

Jesse’s flesh hand runs along the stone walls. The only other sounds are the earth creaking and the steady drip, drip of rainwater through eroded foundation.

The walls are too thick for Gabe to hear Jack’s heartbeat. Or at least, that’s what he hopes is the reason. He’s trying not to think of the inevitability that the Djinn did away with Jack fast. The Preacher is too high value to linger and savor his blood.

Gabe holds back the growl and focuses on the task at hand.

Finding Jack.

He comes to a pause before a metal door and rises to his corporeal form. Jesse bumps into him with a soft ‘oof’.

The door creaks horribly as they open it, but at least they’re in the right place.

It reeks of dead flesh and the musk of mold and mildew. A few candles light the room but the scented wax does nothing to hide the smell. There are bodies scattered across a splintered concrete floor, some hardly bones and others still decomposing. Some are brand new. Days old at least.

Gabe doesn’t have eyes for them.

Only for Jack, all four limbs tied to a chair, right forearm exposed and a needle sticking from the crook of his elbow.

He’s gnaut and ashen. Gabe glides across the room in a fury of black smoke and clutches at the sides of Jack’s face.

A pulse, but only barely.

He drops his forehead to Jack’s and lets out a ragged, broken sound. Death is potent on his skin, Gabe can smell it. It burns inside his nose and sears the empty space where his heart would be if he had one.

“There was a rumor -.” A voice, female and foreign, floats in from the left, “That the Great Preacher was harboring a  _ Reaper _ .”

Gabe glances over and a woman, tall and slim, steps out of the darkness. She’s dressed nothing like the Djinn’s he’s come across before. Nor has he see many  _ female _ Djinn in his time as a Reaper.

“Release him.” Gabe orders.

Her laugh is throaty and astonished, “And why should I do that?”

“Because we’re gonna shoot you in the head if you don’t.” Jesse’s tone is clipped.

And sure enough, when Gabe casts a look behind him, both Jesse and Hanzo have their weapons leveled at the Djinn’s head.

She doesn’t look impressed.

“It’s not very smart to enter a spiders web, Reaper.” She steps closer and into the heavier candle light. There’s a cut on her arm, burnt around the edges and flesh nearly black. At least one of them got in a good hit.

“You can’t kill me.” Gabe watches her every motion with narrowed eyes.

“No.” She agrees, “But how often do us mere mortal monsters get the chance to say ‘ _ I destroyed a Reaper _ ’?”

Gabe can feel his body melting to the ground. It drips and sizzles like acid, “What do you want from me?”

Her grin turns sinister, “Your  _ allegiance _ .”

He pauses for a second and barks out a sudden laugh. He can’t help it.

The Djinn doesn’t look surprised in the slightest. Her smile stays in place as she hums and steps around to stand behind Jack’s chair.

“Do you want to know what he’s dreaming about?” She murmurs, voice hypnotic. To humans, it may work, but on him, it’s annoying that she even attempts.

He holds his head high, “I know how you work.”

“I grant wishes.” She runs her fingers through Jack’s white locks and Gabriel hisses, face twisting in anger.

“You do no such thing.” Hanzo cuts in sharply, “You  _ twist  _ dreams.”

“Wishes.” She corrects, “Little Oni. Your Djinn on the inside is severly out of practice.”

Gabe bristles at her knowledge. Not just a simple Djinn under their noses. She’s here for a purpose. She’s been  _ watching. _

“Jack’s wish -.” She heaves a dramatic sigh, “I thought he’d have such a predictable wish. For a man to fall in love with a Reaper, oh I thought he’d wish for eternal life.” Her fingers glide down the side of Jack’s resting face.

Gabe wants to snap it off at the wrist.

“An eternal life with  _ you _ .” She points a manicured nail at him, “But instead - he chose a cookie cutter family and a cookie cutter life.”

It does what it’s supposed to do.

Cuts him where it hurts. That Jack isn’t happy with the idea of Gabe keeping him alive for so long. That Jack just wants  _ peace _ after a life that’s done nothing but kick him around.

“A wife -.” She rolls her wrist down Jack’s neck, “Kids - all of the things a Reaper can not give him.”

“Let me kill her.” Jesse growls from behind him.

Gabe’s eyes drop to Jack’s face.

Jack’s old. Older than any Hunter. It shows in the lines of his face, in the worn tilt of his mouth and the shade of his hair. Gabe’s no fool, he sees the way Jack hides his back pain and rubs at his knees after a long day on his feet.

Yet he still arches under Gabe’s hands like he’s twenty again. He’s beautiful in every way.

He rubs a smoking thumb over Jack’s cheekbone. Hating how chilled the skin is under the pad of his finger. Hating that he’s the reason Jack is sitting here in the first place. Jack could be buried and gone now, free of hiding behind mist and barriers. Free of the beasts that stole his mother and made his father a mad-man.

Jack’s dedicated his entire life to this.

Gabe didn’t want him to go out this way. At the hands of a second rate monster thinking they could manipulate him.

“Shoot her.” Gabe doesn’t take his eyes off of Jack.

She flinches backwards with a hiss as an arrow whips past Gabe’s head and grazes her cheek. Jesse’s pistol goes off next and he can see her rolling away from the corner of his eye.

The Djinn ducks and dodges both sharpshooters. Gabe can do naught but remain neutral. He  _ is neutral.  _

He has to be.

“Call of your guard dogs, Reaper and I’ll tell you how you can wake him.” She snarls from behind a load bearing pillar.

“Tell me how to wake him and I’ll call them off.” Gabe counters, finally lifting his gaze from Jack’s visage.

He can hear Jesse reloading and Hanzo knocking another arrow back.

“Rumor has it -.” Jesse sneers, “That if you die, He wakes up anyway.”

A soft curse, “I will find you again, Reaper.”

She hits something along the wall and a stone door cracks open. Hanzo rushes forward, face bleeding to the gray and red marking of his Oni form, but he’s too late. She slips through the crack and the stone shuts, leaving not indent in the wall.

Jesse pats at it, “Goddamn it. What did she press?”

“She has been here for decades.” Hanzo snarls, “Only she would know it.”

Gabe turns his gaze back to Jack.

“Wake up, Jack.” He whispers, rubbing a thumb along the old preachers bottom lips, “Wake up for me.”

  
  


\--------

  
  


Gabe’s kisses are electric.

Jack laughs into them as Gabe’s foot shuts the door to his childhood bedroom. Strong hands guide him by the hips until he reaches the bed.

“Ah Jack -.” Gabe lowers him down to the bed, pushing his t-shirt up and presses a warm, gentle kiss against Jack’s belly, “I’ve waited all day for this.”

Jack chuckles, dropping a hand to rake through Gabe’s curls, “Is that so?”

Gabe grins and sinks his teeth into the skin beneath his belly button.

Jack hisses in pleasure, hips surging upwards and half-hard cock brushing against Gabe’s throat. His toes curl as that same mouth nips down the hair to his groin and deft fingers pull apart the buttons to his jeans.

Pleasure, warm and immersive, flows through him as Gabe’s mouth goes to work on his cock. It sends tingles down his spine and spreads gooseflesh across his arms. It pools in the base of his gut, like hot chocolate and ebbs and flows with every slick pull of Gabriel’s throat.

He comes with a hoarse, wrung out shout.

Gabe peppers kisses up the length of his chest, rucking his shirt all the way to his armpits.

His brain is fuzzy, drunk on orgasm.

When he opens his eyes, Gabe’s eyes are red and his skin leaks from the pores.

It doesn’t startle him like it should, but he frowns, arousal still tingling along the surface of his skin.

He puts a hand to Gabe’s face and the image disappears, leaving the young, handsome man Jack’s spent the last ten years of his life with.

A worried look crosses Gabe’s face, “Are you okay?”

Ten years?

Jack hasn’t been with Gabe that long -

It’s only been -

“Who are you?” Jack croaks.

The Gabe on his chest sighs, heavy and despondent, “Can’t you just let yourself have this one good thing?”

Jack drags his hand back into dark curls and yanks with a growl, “Who are you?”

“Let yourself be happy, Jack.” Gabe murmurs, eyes dark and far too luminescent in this dark space, “Let yourself be happy with me.”

“You’re not my Gabriel.” Jack snarls, “Where am I?”

“I am your Gabriel.” Not-Gabe snaps, “I’m everything you want him to be. I’m the perfect, handsome boyfriend you always wanted. I gave you the perfect family. I’ve given you the perfect place to rest. To be happy.”

“You are a  _ lie _ .” Jack hisses, “Real life isn’t a dream. I knew what I was getting into the moment I took him into my home.”

“But he can’t give you what I can.” Gabe snarls, face twisting and morphing into various visages. Different ages. Different looks. Different universes, “I can give you him without the death. Without the destruction.” His hands curl around Jack’s face, “Let me keep you.”

“No.” Jack intones, “You will  _ never _ be him.”

“Then you will die at his hands!”

“Gladly.”

  
  
  


\--------

  
  
  


Jack surges awake once more, coughing, chest tight and skin chilled to the bone. He reaches out wildly, but his arms are strapped down. Panic floods through the pain and the lethargic mess of his brain and body.

“Whoa.” Jesse’s voice filters in and a warm palm cups the back of his neck, “Take it easy there.”

Jack’s vision is fuzzy.

He blinks rapidly, trying to focus, but the room is dark. Candle flicker like blurry messes in the distance. He can make out Hanzo’s Oni form near the door and a the form of a young woman in front of him.

_ Hana _ .

“W-where -.” His voice sounds horrible, dry.

“Djinn.” Gabe’s voice.

Jack drops back into the chair, fingers curling out, trying to get a piece of his Reaper, “Gabe -.” A cool palm drapes over the back of his hand and Jack sighs happily, body relaxes further.

“Dead?” Jack asks.

“No.” The shink of a knife from Jesse’s pocket and the plastic tied around his wrists go first. Then his ankles, “She got away.”

Jack lifts his unoccupied hand to his face and rubs at his eyes. It helps his vision, but he has a nasty feeling he’s lost too much blood for his vision to be useful.

“She?” He scrunches up his nose.

“We’re just as surprised as you are.” Jesse scoffs, “Gonna check on Hana and Hanzo. You two -.” A finger jerks between the two of them, “Talk.”

His boots thump over the wet concrete.

Jack turns his wavy gaze to Gabe.

He’s mostly corporeal, but there’s a taunt set in his shoulder that tells Jack too much and not enough.

“How long was I gone?”

Gabe’s dark gaze drifts down to him, “Less than twenty four hours.” He looks away again, “Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?”

Jack give shim a wry grin, “I didn’t want you to worry.”

“Jack you can’t -.” A ragged sigh, “You can’t leave the mist. What if another Reaper found you? What if -.”

Jack twists his palm up and laces their fingers together, “I’m sorry. I was worried about her.”

“Then teach her how to fight. Don’t leave.” Gabe’s hand tightens around his own, “I can’t protect you if you aren’t at my side.”

“Okay.” Jack agrees, “I’m just glad that over. I feel like shit.” He yanks out the needle from his elbow, “Feels like she’s been draining me for weeks.”

“We weren’t sure you would break the dream.” Gabe mumbles, “Killing a Djinn is usually the only way.”

Jack scoffs and rises slowly, knees shaking a little from the blood loss and lack of movement. One of Gabe’s arms curls around his waist and holds him steady.

“It was a nice dream, but her Gabriel was too domestic for my tastes.” 

Gabe tenses at his side, “I was there?”

Jack sends him a raised brow, “Why wouldn’t you be? She seemed to think my ‘wish’ was this perfect holiday with my parents. My dad this perfect father and my mom -.” He clears his throat, “And you were there. With me.”

Gabe looks at him funny, “You wanted that kind of life with me?”

“I don’t want any of that bullcrap.” Jack growls, “It was a fantasy world. This right here -.” He points at the ground, at Gabe, at Jesse and Hana and Hanzo in the distance, “This is the real world. I wouldn’t choose a goddamn dream over what I have here - with  _ you _ .”

Gabe’s fingers dig into the skin of Jack’s side, “I figured you’d want the peace. The death.”

“I do.” Jack turns Gabe’s face to face him, “When  _ you’re _ ready to take me.” He swallows the emotion burning in the back of his throat, “Only you, Gabriel.”

“Yea.” Gabe croaks, “I’m your Reaper, after all.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for the continued support, comments, and kudos!


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